A Word About Responding to Model Calls, And Not Being THAT Photographer

May 5, 2015 by Udi Tirosh 49 Comments

Here is a story on how not to be that photographer. I cringed at the email exchange, and I think any model or photographer will too.

A few days ago Nicole Vaunt, A.K.A Vauntastic – a freelance model – put out a travel call on Model Mayhem. This is a standard practice many models (and photographers) do when they travel so they can book shoots, or meet with persons that would otherwise be too far away. It’s a pretty standard call as you can see, detailing the relevant dates and locations, as well as some information about Nicole.

What Nicole got next is a long email (not via Model Mayhem’s system) explaining to Nicole why she is not a good fit, then trashing her some more, then suggesting an unpaid casual shoot and then suggesting a nude BDSM and Bondage shoot. The attitude threw me off at the beginning of the mail, and it just kinda escalated from there. Here is the email (sans names) as Nicole shares it.

Nicole, as you may have assumed, did not take the offer:

I kinda wish this would have ended here, but the photographer sent a follow up email.

Nicole went to facebook to share the story and got a threatening mail in response. While we don’t have a screen capture from the original post, here is a capture from the photographer’s rant-response on facebook. (click to see a larger image)

And the intimidating mail that followed.

I am not sure if any commentary is needed after reading the email, but let me leave you with this: you never want to be the person on the sending end of such mails, be respectful and nice. Models can make or break your shoot.

Nicole is posting updates to the story at her tumbler: theresnoplacelikeyourmouth – somehow I don’t think we’ve seen the last of this story…

About Udi Tirosh

Udi Tirosh is the Founder and Editor in Chief of DIYPhotography, he is also a photographer, a relentless entrepreneur, a prolific inventor and a dad, not necessarily in that order

« A Behind The scenes Look on Annie Leibovitz shooting Star Wars for Vanity Fair

Elena Shumilova A.K.A Photographer Mom Shares Her Techniques For Photographing Kids »

Cherokee Monroe

Wooooooow, I’ve met some narcissistic and misogynist pricks before but damn, he takes the cake.
Chris Cav Gibson

Emily Targett don’t go to America and ask this photographer for a shoot. .
Jon Sears

Bloody hell.
David Hoffmann

If there were less typos, omitted words and grammatical errors I might take this exchange seriously. As is, I just don`t buy it.
- planx_constant
  
  If you’re going to be a pedant you should use “fewer” instead of “less” in this sentence.
Traci Bock

Wow. Just wow
Ken Tam

I don’t have time to read all… so my answer is by guessing…

how to make the shoot happen is none of our business. Why the model release some private communication is another story.
- FJR2E
  
  Is there a reason you felt compelled to comment on an article you admitted to not reading?
- CarlWinslow35
  
  Thanks for your utterly pointless, unhelpful input after not even bothering to read everything.
- Nicole Vaunt
  
  Because he deserves to be outed, so that younger and newer models are warned not to work with him. Because I have 6 years of experience, I can tell that someone is a disrespectful POS immediately and I have a refined bullshit meter…but not everyone does. This is the only way that models in the freelance travel community can stay safe.
David Doyle

Funny; )
Zamfirescu Vladimir-Alexandru

If public executions were a thing, people like this would not exist anymore.
- Chris Pickrell
  
  If public executions scared people, they wouldn’t have needed them after the first one :D
Matt Needham

Is this a famous photographer? If not it’s not photography news. This is like a car magazine writing an article about not being THAT driver because creeps drive cars. The internet is full of creeps and trolls. Have you ever wondered why Nigerian scammer emails are so poorly written? It’s because they are looking for the dumbest of the dumb. This guy is so over the top offensive that he either enjoys the exchange or he’s looking for someone with little smarts and self esteem. Don’t feed the trolls!
- Chris Pickrell
  
  Or, it could be a lesson on how NOT to respond as a photographer, therefore, photography news.
  - Nicole Vaunt
    
    Exactly!
    - Chris Pickrell
      
      :D
Valter Van D

the photographer in this story, which it is probably just a story made up. is a douche I will admit that, but some, SOME of the things he said are true, when a model does get known for nudes she or he won’t be looked heavily upon to do something else.

different types of modeling do require different skill sets, you wouldn’t ask a car/motorcycle model to model in the tub or off in the woods somewhere…

if you actually read his comments there is validity to SOME of his claims

BUT the way he went about it was completely wrong and makes all photographers look bad.
- CarlWinslow35
  
  It’s not made up, you dip.
- Rachie Tartz
  
  I definitely do not agree with you.
- Nicole Vaunt
  
  False. A good model can model anything; the skill set is the same regardless. Will she/he be the BEST at it? Probably not. Is focusing on ONE kind of modeling best for money/business? Certainly. But to imply that being able to pose nude prohibits you from modeling other things is ridiculous.
- Joe
  
  This is so FALSE! I know some really great nude models who have moved on to do other things… and if the model has the experience she can model anything…with or without clothes…
Donald Giannatti

I am a photographer in Phoenix and KNOW this guy. He threatened me on two occasions and has bullied and threatened other models in the area. He has been banned from MM at least once (heard he had also tried to do another account and that had been banned, but no personal knowledge).

The guy is well known in our area, and is a pariah to most.

When he threatened two of the models that I worked with closely, we took it to the Model Mayhem people as the threats were personal, and hinted at violence.

We were denigrated and accused of being “white knights” when all we were trying to do was to warn other models. I spoke with one model who had shot with him and she had a terrible experience as well. It was disheartening.

How he escapes scrutiny is beyond me. How he sleeps at night is a bigger mystery, but in reality I don’t think about him very much. Too bad he has surfaced again.
- Kris J Boorman
  
  Were you accused of White Knighting by MM?
- CarlWinslow35
  
  MM is ridiculous about protecting scumbags from being outed. They need to get their heads out of their asses and completely reverse their policy.
  - Donald Giannatti
    
    Yes. But expecting that group to be something they are not is a waste of energy. MM is what it is. Hopefully something better will spring up to replace the silliness, but I am not holding my breath.
- TURNERO
  
  Is it this guy or does the guy just have the same name and phone number (he removed the phone number, it was only in the cached search engine version of the page):
  http://community.spiceworks.com/people/davidallen2
  
  Looking at his facebook page this guy’s stuff is below average at best.
Anastasia Beaverhausen

This jerk is even insinuating on his FB business page that the model contacted him! What a scum bag!
- Chris Pickrell
  
  As I understand it, she did.
  
  He just chose to respond like a jack ass.
  - Anastasia Beaverhausen
    
    No, she made a public post on a social platform to announce that she was traveling to another area. This is a normal thing for models and photographers to do to engage with locals in the area they are traveling too. He responded to her public announcement as if it was specifically directed at him, which it wasn’t.
    - Chris Pickrell
      
      1. I’m a photographer. I know how photographers and models communicate about availability.
      
      2. I’m familiar with it.
      
      3. It wasn’t a public announcement. It was a private message on Model Mayhem with a cold call.
      
      I’ve actually followed this whole thing in a group on FB, with comments from photographers he attacks, Corwin, Vaunt, etc. I even got banned from his page :D
      
      But yeah, she cold called him on MM. So yes, she contacted him. Regardless, his response is crap.
      - Nicole Vaunt
        
        Correct. I sent him a “cold call” via MM, which is what I do when I travel.
    - Nicole Vaunt
      
      I did write him directly and privately initially.
Joe M

I think in this case what I found most amusing is who this photographer was actually talking to. She’s not an unknown, and her hubby even less so, in the industry. Don’t want to take a shoot? Politely decline, but don’t be a dick – especially with people who have a name.
David Hidding

Looking at both of their websites, I’d say that her posing for him would do him more good then his work will do for her. It’s not what I would consider a match of equals.
Lee Shelly

With 37 followers on FB, no website and now no profile on MM, this guy is clearly as big time as he suggests. /rolls eyes

What a d-bag.
Coraki

Some professional. Gross.
Hugh Mobley

Photography, like any industry, has a small circle, now that this Pr*** is outed more than normal probably makes all models real gunshy of everyone! A good blast and retweet from everyone should put him in the frikin hole where he belongs!
Donald Giannatti

For anyone who thinks the story is made up, here is the log of my run in with the same guy… 2007 was the year. (And no, I never threatened him in any way.)

http://wizwow.blogspot.com/2007/10/jerk-outs-himself-here-you-go.html
- udi tirosh
  
  I am pretty surprised Don, I would have thought that 8 years of outing will put an end to this….
- Nicole Vaunt
  
  Woah! I knew he had a history with this kind of stuff, but always good to see further evidence…
  - SweetD
    
    He threatened me & my husband 4 years ago. I posted a warning on my MM and later contacted by a sheriff deputy in another county (Florida). He was being investigated for threatening/stalking a others.
    After the deputy investigated him, the deputy called me and said he was “a little nerd that hides behind his computer” to feel like a tough guy. He was really scared by the investigation. He never bothered me again. You should contact police…this pattern of behavior is concerning and he may try to hurt someone.
bebekashmir

This guys portfolio and skill set would jump by an order of magnitude if he did one shoot with Vaunt and had one thoughtful conversation with Corwin. What a tool.
Angie Marie

Hey, that’s my comment calling him a delusional mysongist! No need to blur my name, I’m quite proud of it. :-)
Chris Pickrell

If you look close, you’ll see that not only did he say he wouldn’t shoot her nude, but that he doesn’t shoot nudes and hasn’t done them in a long time.

And then proceeds to suggest a nude /BDSM/Bondage shoot.
OjaDavid

I looked at stuff by this David Allen guy. Pretty mediocre snapshots — he has no sense of how to use light.
- Joe
  
  I was looking at his portfolio… he is probably someone who is bitter he is still a GWC and never learned the finer points of photography.
Joe

Wow… who is this piece of crap? It’s all fun and games when you come up to the wrong photographer/model with that crap and he or she knocks you out… this is really sad and I feel bad for her… I would definitely call the police and have him looked at for the threats… What’s this crap “if I am ever in Philadelphia I might bump into you” crap… sounds like a stalking and threat case to me. If he were to run his mouth at me like that.. the dude is done…
SweetD

This clown threatened my husband and I back in 2011. I posted a warning about him on my MM page. About a year later I was contacted by a sheriff deputy from another county who was investigating him for similar threats and they came across my warning and asked for details. Ultimately the deputy went to his home…called me back and told me I had nothing to worry about because he is a little nerd that hides behind his computer so he can badger people to feel like a man. Lol. Clearly he didn’t learn his lesson!